HF Retro Game of the Year - 2004 - San Andreas Wins!
- Thread starter SniperHF
- Start date
Bjorn Le
Hobocop
Big McLargehuge
Fragile Traveler
PC shooters and console shooters largely appeal to different audiences, the master race bullshit is beyond tired.
Aladyyn
they praying for the death of a rockstar
Did you see the outrage when Valve basically killed community servers in TF2? Matchmaking is terrible in FPS games.
Not sure how people can justify San Andreas over Vice City personally...
Half-Life was probably more revolutionary, however marketing and availability are very important issues when it comes to selling and getting your product out. Needing a cutting edge computer to play Half-Life prevented me from ever playing it even though people say it is one of the best games of all time. Halo 2 changed that, Halo brought the concept that you don't need to go out and spend two Xbox console worth of funds to play an enjoyable game with a ton of replayability and competitiveness. Before Half Life and halo, you had Medal of Honor which if I remember correctly had zero MP options and Counterstriker which is meh.
Bjorn Le
Hobocop
I don’t stake much on internet outrage anymore. Well, I haven’t ever but I especially don’t now. Matchmaking made FPS mainstream and attractive a majority of gamers. Servers can be super intimidating for all but the most serious of players. I’ve played both styles lots, haven’t played TF2 since the changes but I played it a lot before. When you have people you know, servers can be great. But when you’re just starting to get into something? I remember getting kicked from so many Battlefront or Call of Duty servers, for the absolute dumbest reasons. The worst kinds of people you couldn’t just mute. Servers can be overly elitist, and that isn’t good.
Matchmaking isn’t perfect and it can have some of the issues (vote to kick games that get abused and the god awful 13 year olds), but it’s not “terrible.”
RandV
It's a wolf v2.0
I don't have much stake in the argument itself as I'm not really a FPS guy, but I don't think it's fair to say the PC FPS market would still be 'niche'. The PC market has always been there and always been significant, it was just for a point in time where console gamers became the sexier market for publishers so they prioritized focus there. Something that's fairly common in the industry.
Frankie Blueberries
Allergic to draft picks
- Jan 27, 2016
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I played FPS games on PC and still thoroughly enjoyed Halo 2 (I've played pretty much every big FPS on PC since Wolfenstein and DOOM). More people used mics in Halo 2 (golden age for people having mics online, felt like 90% of people used them), so the coordination was usually better and it was generally very competitive.
You expected modding from a 2004 console game? Really? It had custom games which were about as close as you can get at that time. What made it more interesting was the the custom games were all community driven. For example, the Zombies game type required people to willingly switch teams once they were 'infected.' To me, that is pretty crazy considering it would never happen in a game today. There were so many great custom games that the community came up with, which required the cooperation of everyone to make work (playing by certain rules). It was a pretty special time for online gaming.
Sounds like you either didn't play it online, or did not get involved in the community of the game or have friends to play with to enjoy it properly.
Bjorn Le
Hobocop
Niche in a sense that multiple AAA shooters come out every year and are at the top of the best selling/most played lists, which wouldn't happen if matchmaking didn't exist.
I voted for World of Warcraft due to its undeniable influence, popularity and addictiveness. In fact, it was so influential and popular that I believe that it roped in lots of players who, ordinarily, wouldn't have been interested. You see a lot of unfavorable opinions of WoW nowadays, and much of it seems to come from people who were eventually convinced to get into the game because their friends were hooked on it. I view negative opinions like those less as an indictment of the game and more as a testament to how huge it was. Similarly, I suspect that a lot of players (even those who loved the game) kept playing after they started tiring of it and getting frustrated at it, because of the same peer pressure and/or addictiveness, and tend to remember the reasons why they soured on it more than the reasons why they initially enjoyed it. Because of these reasons, you might find a negative opinion of the game for every positive one nowadays, but I wouldn't call it a "polarizing" game. The original game was anything but polarizing. The criticism has almost entirely been because of the evolution of the player base, the out of control hype and the effects of the expansions (i.e. all things that happened months or years after the game's release).
I played through San Andreas and really enjoyed it, even though I played it almost 10 years after release. I'd say that it was revolutionary for having such a large, open world and had a big hand in making those popular later in the decade. On the other hand, the gameplay and graphics weren't that much different than the two games in the series before it. That didn't really hurt my enjoyment of it, but I think that it makes at least a little difference when judging game of the year. Still, it would probably be my pick if WoW weren't on the list.
I played through Half-Life 2 and enjoyed it, too, but I've never been as high on it as my fellow PC gamers. The original was more groundbreaking and fun to play, IMO. On top of that, the sequel took so long to come out that I was both a bit tired of waiting for it and not as impressed as I could've been if it'd been released years earlier. It pushed the boundaries for graphics and physics at the time, so it was distinctive and influential, but I've just always felt like it gets more praise than it deserves because it was a long-awaited sequel to a great game. If it had been named something other than Half-Life 2, it probably wouldn't be revered like it is.
I tried Halo 2 once and was not impressed. I respect that it was a game changer on consoles and don't blame anyone voting for it, but it was pretty unimpressive to me on PC, where shooters had had equal or better multiplayer, matchmaking and controls for at least 5 years at that point. I appreciate that it made shooters popular on consoles, though, since that led to even more cross-platform shooters. In fact, similar could be said for KOTOR and KOTOR2, which I couldn't get into, but making RPG elements popular on consoles no doubt led to more games with them that I did like (like DA: Origins).
I played through San Andreas and really enjoyed it, even though I played it almost 10 years after release. I'd say that it was revolutionary for having such a large, open world and had a big hand in making those popular later in the decade. On the other hand, the gameplay and graphics weren't that much different than the two games in the series before it. That didn't really hurt my enjoyment of it, but I think that it makes at least a little difference when judging game of the year. Still, it would probably be my pick if WoW weren't on the list.
I played through Half-Life 2 and enjoyed it, too, but I've never been as high on it as my fellow PC gamers. The original was more groundbreaking and fun to play, IMO. On top of that, the sequel took so long to come out that I was both a bit tired of waiting for it and not as impressed as I could've been if it'd been released years earlier. It pushed the boundaries for graphics and physics at the time, so it was distinctive and influential, but I've just always felt like it gets more praise than it deserves because it was a long-awaited sequel to a great game. If it had been named something other than Half-Life 2, it probably wouldn't be revered like it is.
I tried Halo 2 once and was not impressed. I respect that it was a game changer on consoles and don't blame anyone voting for it, but it was pretty unimpressive to me on PC, where shooters had had equal or better multiplayer, matchmaking and controls for at least 5 years at that point. I appreciate that it made shooters popular on consoles, though, since that led to even more cross-platform shooters. In fact, similar could be said for KOTOR and KOTOR2, which I couldn't get into, but making RPG elements popular on consoles no doubt led to more games with them that I did like (like DA: Origins).
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No Fun Shogun
34-38-61-10-13-15
Voight
#winning
I had a ton of fun with Halo 2 multiplayer on the PC when it was released later on. I'm sure GTA4 was good but never played it. That said, I didn't vote for either and I'm just glad an MMO won't win this contest.
Warden of the North
Ned Stark's head
Ah yes, this thread shows exactly why no one likes the supposed PC master race.
Tough one to answer.
Personally for me, I pick Thousand Year Door. By far my favorite Mario game. Smooth writing, revamped the combat juuust enough to make it more interesting. Only downside I can think of in that game is the kinda crappy start to chapter 7.
A lot of games on here have a legit case; GTA San Andreas is the best game in the series and brought a surprisingly deep RPG element to the series. (the stuff like skill meters) WoW caused the great MMO explosion and consumed a horrifying amount of people's lives. Halo 2 put online gaming for consoles on the map and was the peak of console FPS design.
Tough one to answer.
Personally for me, I pick Thousand Year Door. By far my favorite Mario game. Smooth writing, revamped the combat juuust enough to make it more interesting. Only downside I can think of in that game is the kinda crappy start to chapter 7.
A lot of games on here have a legit case; GTA San Andreas is the best game in the series and brought a surprisingly deep RPG element to the series. (the stuff like skill meters) WoW caused the great MMO explosion and consumed a horrifying amount of people's lives. Halo 2 put online gaming for consoles on the map and was the peak of console FPS design.
Easy. Aside from Tommy Vercetti being much more badass than CJ, Vice City all in all is just a "Scarface" ripoff.
Vice City was great for the time though. I loved the inclusion of motorbikes for the first time etc.
MayDay
Registered User
Think the answer is obviously WoW based on sheer impact and longevity.
But I voted for UT2004 just as a sentimental choice.
Unreal Tournament was the last shooter franchise I was actually interested in. Had a lot of fun back in college playing the original UT on local network multiplayer with friends.
There's a franchise I wish would be revived someday.
But I voted for UT2004 just as a sentimental choice.
Unreal Tournament was the last shooter franchise I was actually interested in. Had a lot of fun back in college playing the original UT on local network multiplayer with friends.
There's a franchise I wish would be revived someday.
No love for this either?? Tsk.
I thought it was a very neat FPS. The bosses and enemies were a refreshing change from the usual, the weapons were sweet (stake gun anyone??) and the metal soundtrack during firefights was cool.
Loved this game. One of my favourites of all time.
For the poll the correct answer is World of Warcraft
syz
[1, 5, 6, 14]
- Jul 13, 2007
- 29,318
- 13,106
Epic was working on a new Unreal Tournament but they've shelved everything in favour of Fortnite. The lowest common denominator wins again.
I didn't play it online and didn't have anybody to play it online with because everybody I knew thought Halo played like shit. Didn't really have anything to do with the archaic multiplayer features.
NyQuil
Big F$&*in Q
KingBran
Three Eyed Raven
- Apr 24, 2014
- 6,436
- 2,284
Well said!!! Its funny to watch people trash games they never played and then their excuse for not playing them is "My friends said it played like ****". I would tell people like that to grow up and make your own opinion!
You know it really doesn't matter what your friends think because the game was epic, sold a ton and was revolutionary. Regardless if what your friends think.
There will always be people out there that hate things that are popular just to be 'trendy'.
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Aladyyn
they praying for the death of a rockstar
I'll add platformers to the list of genres that are better on consoles.
Aladyyn
they praying for the death of a rockstar
KingBran
Three Eyed Raven
- Apr 24, 2014
- 6,436
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Commander Clueless
Hiya, hiya. Pleased to meetcha.
- Sep 10, 2008
- 15,358
- 3,139
Not to rudely question your choices or anything, but I'm curious why you prefer sports and driving games on console? Availability, since they apparently only make FIFA for PC now for some reason?
